Friday, 3 January 2014

At the end of a month-long trip
in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, it was a great pleasure to finish in Bangkok. A
lot can be said about this manic city, but one thing is universally agreed – love
or hate it, no one leaves Bangkok feeling indifferent. I have experienced both emotions
during my few visits to the Thai capital but learnt that a little research into
transport and places to stay and eat will go a long way there.

Bangkok is hot, humid and
polluted, and on top of that, it is not a place designed for those who love
walking. My number one tip while in Bangkok is to take taxis wherever you go,
they are affordable, some are air-conditioned and if you are a foreigner, they will
probably be cheaper than tuk tuks (without the annoyance of haggling as they
are metered). If you happen to be anywhere with a Sky Train station, that is
another efficient and very inexpensive transport option. Keeping away from the
intense heat and minimising the hassle of getting from A to B will make a huge
difference to your experience there.

But looking beyond these issues,
Bangkok has a great deal to offer to visitors that more than make up for its
drawbacks. A foodie’s paradise, Bangkok has many fantastic restaurants, 4 of
which are among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list by San Pellegrino. There were
not enough meal times in the 3 days I spent in Bangkok to fit in all the
restaurants and street food I wanted to try before returning to the UK. I had a
pretty good stab at it though as you can see in the Where to Eat section below.
But still, I cannot wait to return.

Without giving too much away in
the first paragraph of this write-up, The Siam Hotel was one of the best hotels
I have encountered – the striking décor, the collection of tasteful, original artwork
and antiques and the impeccable service made for a unique experience.

Although the main hotel dates
back only to 2005 when it was conceived by architect Bill Bensley, the houses
at the front facing the Chao Phraya River are original Thai wooden houses,
bought by the owners with Jim Thompson in the 1950s.

The owners are the Sukosol
family, famous in Thailand as entrepreneurs, businessmen and theatre impresarios,
also involved in music and cinema, and notable art collectors.

The hotel aims to recreate the
era of King Rama V (1853-1910), and houses the Sukosol family’s vast collection
of art and antiques, in a setting that could not be more striking.

Tastefully
built in a black and white colour scheme, the hotel is a sanctuary of Art Deco
elegance and style, with antiques some of which date back over 1000 years.

The rooms are clustered around a
central courtyard with a large island water feature planted with trees and long
ferns.

There is a gorgeous long swimming
pool adjacent to the Chao Phraya River surrounded by lush gardens and verdant
shrubbery.

Our room was one of the hotel’s
spacious 100 sqm Riverview Suites. With ultra high ceilings, an enormous king
size bed, and beautifully furnished with an eclectic display of artwork and antiques.

There was also a stunning bath
and separate shower, internet-TV and a Swiss Jura coffee machine in the sitting
room.

Entrance to our Suite at The Siam

Each room has a butler, and ours
(Oat) was extremely helpful, taking care of our ironing, restaurant bookings
and flight check-ins.

Oat patiently showing us around the hotel as I take a thousand photos...

He even noticed (I guess from our passports) that our
last day there was Dr G's birthday and arranged a birthday cake for the room.

Thank you Oat!

The Siam Hotel has a small cinema
furnished with original antique folding wood and velvet French cinema seats as
well as a library, curio gift shop and art gallery, and a charming French-style
café.

The Curio Shop at The Siam Hotel

The hotel’s gym is probably the
most beautiful I have ever seen – decorated with Thai sporting memorabilia, it
has the latest machines and gadgets, but also has a Muay Thai boxing ring with
training offered, as well as a fitness, Tai Chi and yoga instructor, to
complement the infinity pool by the riverside.

The Siam Hotel Spa evokes a
luxurious opium den with elegant therapy rooms, steam and sauna facilities, a
mixed bathhouse with hot and cold plunge pool, and a hair and nail salon. It is
a stunning setting.

The Opium Spa at The Siam

Part of the Small Luxury Hotels
of the World group, the hotel has 39 rooms set in 3 acres of grounds in the
historic Dusit district on the edge of the Chao Phraya River, with the Grand
Palace 15 minutes away by boat.

Cafe at The Siam Hotel

Accessible by taxi or limousine, the hotel also
has a complimentary river shuttle on a very stylish launch of gleaming
varnished wood with white leather seats, which we used on several occasions.

The free boat shuttle service at The Siam

Breakfast is served in one of the
lovely Thai wooden riverside houses, or in the garden, and was a mouth watering
affair. Dishes are prepared a la carte, and were excellent.

We had freshly made waffles and a
deliciously cheesy Croque Monsieur, coffee and juices overlooking the river.

The Siam Hotel is one of the most
stylish, efficient and professional hotels I have ever stayed at, and I cannot
think of anywhere else I would prefer to stay in Bangkok.

Where to Eat

Having dined at the magnificent
Nahm restaurant a few days earlier (reviewed here), we were keen to make the
most of our two nights in Bangkok. For one of the nights, we booked ourselves
into Bolan, but there were a few other places, reviewed below, that I did not
want to miss on this trip.

Issaya Siamese Club is owned and
run by chef Ian Kittichai, and serves modern Thai cuisine in a historical 1920's
Thai home in central Bangkok.

It is in a beautiful setting,
decorated in shabby chic Thai style, with a private walled tropical garden. It
is brightly coloured, and on the night we were there, the place was heaving
with a primarily Thai clientele.

While we perused the menu, we kicked
off with a couple of refreshing Issaya Mojitos (£6) and a selection of amuse
bouche including aubergine with deep fried shrimp and tuna tartare which were
excellent.

Having opted for the Issaya Set
Menu at a very reasonable £28 per person, we enjoyed three very different but
equally delicious starters:

Spiced pork baby back ribs glazed
with chilli paste, served on a portable bbq pot at the table – the ribs were
meaty, spicy and very tender.

Banana blossom and palm heart
salad served with crispy shallots and roasted peanuts in a chilli jam dressing
– this was beautifully presented, with some great fresh flavours and textures.
A vegetable often eaten in Brazil, I love palm heart for its unusual flavour,
something between asparagus and baby bamboo shoots. I was surprised and pleased
to see that the Thais eat it too.

The grilled beef with fresh herbs
and vegetables in a charred birds eye chilli vinaigrette was also really good
and well presented.

To follow, we had a refreshing mulberry
sorbet - rich, smooth and concentrated, and served elegantly in a champagne
coupe, this heralded good things to come from a kitchen that so far had not
faltered.

There were three main dishes, all
served together. The first was a charcoal-grilled Sankaburee spiced chicken
which was flambéed at the table - it was succulent with a wonderfully barbecued
flavour.

The boneless lamb shank in Mussaman
curry served with pickled cucumber was, however, the star of the evening.
Amazingly tender, the lamb combined really well with the peanut and
coconut-based Mussaman curry.

The tiger prawns in a peppery
holy basil sauce worked very well – the licorice hints of the holy basil
combined with the fresh seafood were a marriage made in heaven. It went really
well with the fried multi-grain rice with Chang Mai mushrooms and garlic.

We were very full by this stage,
and were glad that dessert was a light and refreshing jasmine flower panna
cotta with jasmine rice ice cream and jasmine rice tuile. This was one of the
best desserts I have had for a long time, with a lovely fragrance and balance
of sweetness and lightness.

To accompany our meal, we had a
bottle of Languedoc Chateau de la Negly 2008 (£32.50), expertly chosen by the
house sommelier - a blend of carignan, grenache and syrah, it was the perfect
choice, with a nose of cherries, vanilla and spice and went well with the food
we ate. Having had a lot of poor wine at stratospheric prices in Asia, our wine
said heaps about the restaurant. You would be hard pushed to find such quality
at this price in a restaurant in London let alone Asia, and I was really
pleased to taste it at the Issaya Siamese Club in Bangkok.

At end of the meal, we were
served some spectacularly good and creatively presented petit fours, and a
digestif of Mekhong River Whisky - an interesting drink which is in fact much
closer to rum, being distilled largely from sugar cane and blended with Thai
herbs.

Dinner at the Issaya Siamese Club
was excellent. I loved the food and ambience, and it was well priced with tip
top service. I can't wait to return - highly recommended.

One of the reasons I was in
Bangkok was to investigate the Cordon Bleu school in the city, where I am
considering taking on a professional Thai cookery course in 2014. Cordon Bleu
in Thailand is affiliated with, and located in, the five star Dusit Thani Hotel. As part of my ‘investigation’ of the course, I decided to have lunch
there before my appointment at Cordon Bleu.

Benjaron, the Thai restaurant at
the Dusit Thani Hotel, was perhaps unsurprisingly very good.Mieng Kham, a dish of dried fried coconut
meat and herbs, wrapped in chaplu leaves (similar to betel leaves) and served
with mieng sauce made from ginger, shallots, fish sauce, sugar and coconut
(£4.50) was wonderful. There were sour, sweet, hot and crunchy elements which were
a sensory delight.

Next, we had Yam Som, a spicy
pomelo salad with winged beans, shredded chicken and shrimp (£5), which was
again incredibly good.

Nam Prig Long Rua – a dish of
fried shrimp paste served with crispy fried fish (£5.50) and Gaeng Kiew Wan
Nuea Moo, a green pork curry served with coconut flower (£5.50) with steamed rice were both delicious
and well made.

Service was unfortunately quite
sullen and uninterested - we had to ask for the waiter’s help on a number of
occasions, and felt that we were resented for it. The hotel and restaurant is
situated in the busy Silom district close to the night market and shopping
centres. Being a luxury hotel with a long history, it is a lovely spot to visit
and is definitely a restaurant I would recommend.

Owned by a Taiwanese family who
have a chain of hotels and restaurants back home, Cabochon is their first venture
in Thailand built as recently as 2011. Antique and vintage car collectors, the
hotel’s décor reflects their owners’ impeccable taste for the good and
beautiful things in life.

Cabochon Hotel

Part of the exclusive Secret Retreatscollection of hotels in Asia which includes the magnificent Tugu Hotel Lombok
(reviewed here), Cabochon has a French colonial style and elegance, and
beautiful antiques tastefully displayed around its 8 guest rooms, restaurant
and lounge bar.

Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel

The Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant specialises in
serving Northeastern Thai food from the seldom-visited Isan region and
neighbouring Laos, cooked in an open-plan kitchen.Having been fortunate enough to spend a
couple of weeks in Laos earlier on this trip (reviewed here and here), I was
looking forward to some more Laotian food.

The restaurant itself is made
from timber salvaged from Thai wooden houses, is tastefully decorated, and is
an airy, light and lovely spot for lunch. I loved the open plan kitchen and the
antique décor. It is located in a quiet cul-de-sac just a block back from the
manic Sukhumvit Road - a haven of tranquillity and good food.

The menu has myriad choices of
Isan and Laotian small eats, and is very reasonably priced.We kicked off with a dish of crispy
deep-fried squid (£2.80), and some deep fried Thai fish cakes (£2.20), which
were excellent with our Singha Thai Beer.

The Isan pork sausages (£2.80)
were equally delicious, as were the green mango and shrimp salad (£1.80) and
grilled pork shoulder (£2.80).

Hotpot is a favourite dish of
mine to serve, as those of you who have been to my supperclub will know, so I
was pleased to be able to share a magnificent Thai steamboat, with beef, pork,
squid, fish balls, tofu, chillies and green vegetables, all set over a terracotta
charcoal burner on our table.

Dessert was as assortment of
shaved ices with different toppings including green tea, red bean jellies and tapioca
(£2.20), with a generous serving of condensed milk, wonderfully
refreshing.

Lunch at the Thai Lao Yeh Restaurant at the Cabochon Hotel was one of the highlights of our trip to
Bangkok. It was excellent value for money, had a lovely atmosphere, and can
think of few places I would rather be for small eats and a chilled beer or two
in crazy Bangkok.

Listed among the 50 best Asian
Restaurants by San Pellegrino, Bo.Lan is undoubtedly a top foodie destination
in Bangkok. It was opened by Duangporn Songvisava (Bo), and her Australian
partner Dylan Jones (Lan), whom she met working at David Thompson's Nahm
restaurant in London. Bo was named the Veuve Cliquot
Asia’s Best Female Chef in 2013.

Bo.Lan has an a la carte menu, as
well as a set menu called 'Bo.Lan Balance' (£35 per person) which we opted for,
based around five dishes - a Thai salad, a chilli relish (or kreung), a
stir-fried dish, a curry and a soup.

We started with a selection of
tantalising amuse bouches which included Thai wafer with red chicken curry, lamb
cured squid wrap with egg net, tapioca pearl stuffed with pickled turnip and
peanut, spicy mushroom salad, and steamed minced prawn and egg. This was a
promising start to the meal.

Thai noodles with southern style
fish curry were next. Served with coconut cream and peanuts, this was a
wholesome and delicious dish.

The remaining dishes were brought
to the table together. These were equally delicious and provided a range of
flavours and textures. They included:

Pork rib soup - I love eating
meat on the bone, but sadly in this dish the bones were so overcooked that they
disintegrated in the mouth, which was not great.

For "pre-dessert",
there was a serving of jack fruit with coconut cream, shaved ice, red water
chestnut, jasmine syrup and sweet corn. Dessert was gorgeously presented but in terms of flavour, it was a little
disappointing in my opinion. We had custard apple with coconut milk, peanut
toffee, herbal jelly, guava and pomelo, with Bolan signature tea.

What to Do

Bangkok is a major capital city,
with hundreds of options for entertainment, temples,

palaces and sightseeing.The list below is by no means comprehensive,
but include a few of the activities I experienced on my latest trip.Some other options worth exploring are the
Royal Palace, and a number of major museums. A few options close to the
restaurants and hotels featured here are below.

Wat Po Thai Massage

Close to the Cabochon Hotel and
Bolan is the Wat Po Thai Massage School on Sukhumvit Road. This is a great
place to get an authentic Thai massage from expert instructors, at the almost
unbelievable price of £3 per hour. There are locker facilities, and clean
pyjamas are provided for the oil-free massage. If you are interested, they also
offer a 5-day course so that you can learn how to do Thai massage yourself.

Not far from The Siam Hotel, Jim Thompson's House is a must-see place in Bangkok.The home of a self-made American entrepreneur
who founded the Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company, it is made from six traditional
Thai-style houses constucted from teak which the owner purchased from various
parts of Thailand, and was completed in 1959.In 1967, Jim Thompson went on holiday with friends to the Cameron
Highlands in Malaysia (reviewed here).There he set out for a walk in the surrounding jungle but never
returned. Thus began the Jim Thompson legend.Today, his house is a stunning place to visit, stylishly blending Thai
and Burmese artefacts with Italian black and white marble tiles to create a
harmonious and unique home. There is also a fine restaurant and shop.

The Siam Hotel Excursions

The hotel offers river excursions
which can be arranged at the front desk, as well as cookery classes for up to 6
people at their riverside Chon restaurant, which includes a market tour
followed by the class and lunch. They also provide private barge tours. They
provide a booklet of recommendations in the room for off the beaten track
restaurants, shops and antiques.

Rooms cost from £280 per night,
and the Riverside Suites that we stayed in cost around £440 per night.You can book direct, and the hotel is also
offered on trips with the business travel group Cleveland Travel (www.clevelandtravel.co.uk)
and Cox & King's (www.coxandkings.co.uk)

1 comment:

Funnily enough I was in Bangkok a year ago and stayed at the Siam. It's a pity you did not manage to try their Thai restaurant which is superb. I really enjoyed the breezy shuttle rides that they offered. I also coincidentally went to Issaya after turning it up through some foodie research (having not lived there for 10+ years) - none of my Thai "hiso" pals had heard of it (plenty of Americans) but looks like it is more popular now with the local crowd. The mixed grain rice is now a regular favourite at home!

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Born in Brazil to Japanese and Italian parents, educated in the UK, a true Londoner. Former investment banker turned Cordon Bleu trained chef, food, wine and travel writer, Japanophile and Supper Club host in Islington.

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